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China's Phony War on Corruption

Beijing's anti-graft efforts are really about the Party's power.

Updated Sept. 18, 2013 6:47 p.m. ET

The Mid-Autumn Festival on Thursday is an occasion when Chinese exchange gifts of mooncakes, a calorie-laden treat. But this year tradition collided with a government campaign against the "four decadences": formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance. As a result, sales of luxury mooncakes that are often given as bribes fell around 20% and retailers are desperately cutting prices.

China's new paramount leader Xi Jinping launched the anticorruption campaign as a way to deflect public anger with Communist...